


Jai'galaar'la Sur'haii Jetii

by BeautyAndTheBeskar



Series: Band of Vode [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, CT-7567 | Rex Needs a Hug, CT-7567 | Rex is Trying His Best, Force Bond Shenanigans (Star Wars), Gen, Hilarity Ensues, Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, Mandalorian world building, Pranks, Rex gets a Hug, Space Deer, but also adventures, episodic adventure with a tiny bit of plot, lol, mandalorians have the best holidays, so basically the mandalorian
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:27:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28333095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeautyAndTheBeskar/pseuds/BeautyAndTheBeskar
Summary: The Clone Wars is coming to a close after Palpatine is defeated (working on that fic) but a new, smaller issue arises. Rex gets a mysterious surprise and has to deal with the consequences. When darkness creeps into the galaxy again, will he be able to help stop it? Or will he be engulfed by it?
Relationships: Ahsoka Tano & Clone Troopers, Ahsoka Tano & Original Character(s), Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives/Original Female Character(s), CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano, CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano
Series: Band of Vode [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2074911
Comments: 28
Kudos: 35





	1. The Discovery

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for checking out my fic! It's my first time doing creative writing so I'm open to constructive criticism. I tried to balance introductions and a smooth start with action and small hints of conflict in Chapter 1. Like I said, I've got a prequel to this in the works, but really all you need to know is that Laan'i is a Mandalorian who fought with the 501st (we'll burn that bridge when we get to it) and she specializes in archery. This takes place a few months after the Siege of Mandalore and for self-indulgent purposes the clones got their accelerated aging fixed. That's all, enjoy reading!

Fives knows he shouldn’t be doing this, but the 501st hasn’t seen much real action in a while, and, well, he’s bored. So what does he do? Finds resident  _ Mando’ad _ and fellow prankster Laan’i, and they do the most  _ di’kutla _ thing they can think of, which is to yeet waffles at Rex when he comes to the mess hall. They get in position, each holding a waffle ready to fire. Sure enough, the doors hiss open to reveal Rex. Fives and Laan’i throw their waffles at Rex, still hidden behind the durasteel frame, expecting him to become a flustered waffle sandwich. He didn’t. Instead, he dodged both waffles quicker than he should have and for a second it seemed as if the waffles froze midair before dropping to the floor. Now Laan’i and Fives are the ones who look stunned. “Rex! What the heck was that?” Fives asks, throwing his hands up. Echo squelches his laughter off to the side. 

“I could ask you the same thing. Waffles-really? I would’ve at least used ration bars, no one dodges those,” Rex scoffs,” But don’t get any ideas.” He shoots a glare at Fives. He and Laan’i blink at each other, not noticing Ahsoka watching the whole thing unfold a couple of tables away, markings stretched in surprise. 

Rex walks right by them. He doesn't want to deal with those two without caf first.

As Rex walks by Ahsoka’s table, she grabs his arm and pulls him down next to her.

“Do you know what you just did,” she whispers. Her face set in determination, she stares at Rex as she waits for an answer. Rex rolls his eyes. He doesn’t know what’s gotten into Ahsoka, but he does know he’s hungry.

“I  _ was _ going to get breakfast,” he replies, shifting on the bench.

“No, before that.”

“I walked...through the door.” He stands up, only to be pulled back down.

“Rex, you’re terrible at taking hints. What happened when they threw the waffles at you?”

“I backed out of the way when I saw ‘em,” he says, eyeing Ahsoka suspiciously.

“You moved  _ really fast _ for something you  _ weren’t expecting _ ,” Ahsoka prods. Rex tries to think of what she’s getting at but simply can't.

“Maybe my reflexes improved after getting the aging fixed.” 

Ahsoka sighs. “But how in the galaxy did you  _ see _ those waffles coming?” 

“I dunno…”

Ahsoka couldn’t be patient anymore, her waffles are getting cold. “ Rex, you used the Force !” Rex’s face goes through a range of emotions all at once. He has so many questions. How? He would’ve known before. But, then again, he entered the war at 19, fought on Mandalore at 25 and was now 21 thanks to science he didn’t understand-  _ kriff _ , the Kaminoans barely understood it- so anything’s possible. But not this. He doesn’t even know where to start.

“Rex. Rex! Mission control to Rexter.” Ahsoka waves her hand in front of his face. “Your shields are up. Can you lower them?”

“What?”

“Your shields are up,” she taps his forehead, ”so can you open them? I want to try something.” 

Ahsoka closes her eyes and reaches her hand out. As she dives into Rex’s mind, she feels his warm, golden Force-presence. She gently reaches farther and finds the memory of the waffle attack. Just as she thought. She pulls out of his mind.

“What was that? You're smiling. Is that good then?” Rex blinks at her with his head cocked to the side.

“I reached into your memories. I’ve never done it to you before because I respect your privacy and don’t want to hurt you,” she begins, “Anyway, I looked into the waffle attack and confirmed my suspicions. Rex, you didn’t see Fives or Laan’i. You didn’t even see the waffles. You felt the energy being put into the Force by the movement of them, then you tapped into the Force to turn out of the way. You even held the waffles up for a second. You are definitely Force-sensitive.”

Rex still can't believe it. “That’s impossible. Clones can’t be Force-sensitive,” he tries to shake himself out of this dream. "Plus, wouldn’t you or the generals have sensed it a long time ago? Or _ any  _ of the other jedi we’ve worked with?” 

“The gene fix was pretty recent, Rex, just a few months ago. It might have something to do with force sensitivity. I mean, it’s been long enough that you’re able to use and control the Force to a point, but if your natural abilities have only started to surface it would make sense why I haven’t noticed it.” Ahsoka uses the Force to throw an fork across the table at Rex, who dodges it effortlessly. She smiles as she feels the Force dance around him in tiny wisps that accentuate his natural brightness. She hides her datapad under the table and types a number randomly so Rex can't figure it out through their bond. “What did I type?”

“ _ Ehn _ .” Rex sighs. He did not sign up for this.

She looks down and, sure enough, sees 8 on the datapad. She does it again. “What did I type?”

“ _ She’cu. _ ” Right again.

"What did I type?”

“ _ Ta’raysh _ .” Right. 

Again,” What is it?”

“ _ Resol. _ ” Right.

“Well, I just did a shortened version of the test all younglings get and you passed with flying colors,” Ahsoka smirks. Rex frowns. He’s worried about what this means. The war’s over, Sidious is dead, and the clones are free. But still… he’s nervous. The council nearly rejected General Skywalker because he was “too old” to train. And he was nine. Rex is twenty-one. What if they think he’s dangerous? Unstable? He shakes those thoughts away. No use wasting time dwelling on endless possibilities.

“So what happens now?” he asks. Ahsoka’s eyes twinkle and her smile somehow gets brighter.

“I’ll train you,” she replies. “We’re just doing cleanup at this point, so we should have time between missions. You don’t have to train with me if you don't want to but either way we should address this. ”

Rex knows what he wants to do. “I’ll train with you,” he says, trying to return some of his friend's excitement.

“Good we start now,” Ahsoka says, pulling Rex to his feet and leading him out the door.

“But- food,” he protests. He sees Laan'i toss a ration bar his way as he and Ahsoka run by.

“Thanks!”

“No problem _ vod _ !” Laan’i nods.

He unwraps the ration bar, asking,  _Where exactly are we going?_ through his bond with Ahsoka. 

_You’ll see_ she projects cheekily.


	2. The Confusion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What started as a light chapter ended up getting a bit deep. You know, I never understood when authors would say they tried to write fluff but ended up traumatizing their characters instead, until now. Also, this is where that Rex/Ahsoka tag you probably came here comes into play. It's not super up front because I am trying to just blur the lines between platonic and romantic- just enough to make you go "Aww <3" And I do get into Rex's thought process in this and at a point I do go quite in-depth. Not sure if it would be considered triggering so I put a dashed line just in case. Have fun~

Rex and Ahsoka run through the halls of the Resolute until they reach an unsuspecting door, which, when opened, reveals Ahsoka’s quarters. Rex thinks it’s nice, albeit plain, but so are the barracks. There’s a bed in the corner, a small desk with what he guesses is a stand for Ahsoka’s jetii’kade among the flimsies and datapads piled on the surface, a mat on the floor, and a door on the back wall that he assumes is a private ‘fresher. There’s also a holo of the time they’d first completed a mission with Laan’i. Ahsoka took to her instantly even if the feelings weren’t reciprocated until later. Ahsoka was pulling a reluctant Laan’i into a hug on one side of her with Fives and Jesse, and Rex on the other with Echo and Kix, all smiling.

“So this is your room,” Rex asks. He realizes that with all the time they spend together and how often Ahsoka visits the barracks, he’s never seen her quarters.

“Yes.” Ahsoka is sitting on the mat now, patting next to her for Rex to do the same.

  
He cautiously does so. Ahsoka gives him directions but he can’t focus because all he can hear is this strange ringing, almost like the sound of pure beskar. It sounds close. A hand in his face gets rex out of his trance. Again.

“Rex? Are you listening?”

“Do you hear that?” He looks around.

“Hear what?”

“The singing. Or ringing. It’s like hitting beskar on beskar.“ Ahsoka’s lips turn up in a smile at that.

“Do you have anything on you besides your armor and weapons?”

“My blacks.”

“ _Mir’sheb_ ,” Ahsoka slaps his arm, “I know that.”

“A vibroblade in my boot, and this cool rock I found on Umbara when we dug the trenches.” He holds up a white crystal and Ahsoka’s eyes widen.

Now she knows what the ringing is. She's gonna have to tell Master Skywalker about this. “That’s a kyber crystal.”

“I’m sorry, what,” Rex falters.

Ahsoka can’t help but laugh at the way he said that. “ A lightsaber crystal,” she replies.

Not ideal because then Rex yeets it across the room and jumps into the opposite corner. The yelp he let out would be comedy gold if she’d gotten it on a holo. Ahsoka stoops down to retrieve the crystal and walks over to the panicking trooper.

“Rex, you can't just throw your crystal. It won’t hurt you unless you somehow stab yourself with your lightsaber,” she says, waving the crystal around for emphasis.

“ _My_ crystal? I didn’t ask for this,” he grumbles.

Ahsoka raises an eye marking. “Yeah, you found it and it’s bonded to you. It wouldn’t be calling to you otherwise.”

Rex frowns and looks distantly at the rock. He’s not sure he wants this. It changes everything. He’s just now getting used to the fact that they were forced to fight a meaningless war for three years. And all that time they’d been programmed to hurt those closet to them. He could have hurt Ahsoka. Or worse… “So this isn’t a bad dream?”  
\--------------------------------------

This leaves Ahsoka confused. Rex has always been confident and optimistic, but now… She puts a hand on his pauldron. “ _Cyare_ , why would this be a bad dream?”

He avoids her empathetic blue eyes, the ones he looked into every nightmare he’d ever had since he’d met her. At first it was the eyes of a frightened, confused kid, then of a betrayed friend, and then the trusting gaze of his best friend, determined to find the good in him even as he pulls the trigger.

“I don’t want- I, “ he looks at his hands and realizes they’re balled into fists and trembling. He moves his fingers to try to stop it and continues, “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Ahsoka ghosts her hand over his and he flinches at the touch, then slips his fingers through hers in a gesture worth a thousand words.

“In the nightmares, the ones about… that. It was always you. And then so many others, I did so much damage,” he lets go of Ahsoka’s hand, adding, “all with just two pistols. It all almost came true after Mandalore. With a lightsaber things would get even uglier and I don’t want that.”  
\---------------------------------------

“And you won’t. Look at me.” Rex huffs and looks away so Ahsoka scooches into his line of sight and lifts his chin up with just her index finger. “You do not have a chip in your head. You’re not programmed, you’re a free man. You’re gentle and kind. You may be well-trained and strong. And handsome.” She smirks, noticing Rex’s facade crack a bit, “but in here,” she pats his chest, “you have a heart of gold.”

Rex smiles sadly and rests his forehead against Ahsoka’s. He whispers a thank you so quiet Ahsoka’s montrals barely caught it. When they pull apart, Rex’s golden eyes are a little brighter, and the lines that hide some of his youth have disappeared from his face.

_Good_ , _he’s_ _calming_ _down_ _now_ , Ahsoka thinks, hmm… _maybe_ _give_ _him_ _something_ _fun_. Clones like hands-on stuff. She holds out the crystal.

“Can you hold this again, please? Calmly, and think of a happy memory, one that has your personality written all over it.”

He accepts the crystal and as he stares at it, it starts to glow silvery-white, flickering to an incredible light blue.

“That was pretty cool,” he admits through a beaming smile.

“I’ve never seen silver before, but it suits you. Anyway, you should make a lightsaber soon, which means I need to tell Anakin. Are you ok with that?”

“Little soon for that, don’t you think,” Rex mumbles, staying silent for a moment. As much as he wants to continue his current life of being a simple man trying to make his way in the galaxy, he does trust Ahsoka and he’d rather be in control of this force than the other way around.

“Alright,” he agrees, “I trust you both.”

Ahsoka comms Anakin to ask where he is and let him know she needs to see him.

She and Rex find him in his usual spot now that the fighting has slowed down- the hangar, repairing anything and everything.

“Master! Can we talk to you in private?” She gestures to Rex.

“Uhh, sure. Let me just wash my hands first.” He lifts his hand out of his latest project, dripping oil onto the floor, his rags doing nothing against the substance coating his arms and hands.

Once they got to the briefing room Ahsoka told Anakin everything with some input from Rex, and it was decided that they’d go to the Jedi temple to see Master Yoda and work out a training plan. They flew down to the surface on the Twilight.

Walking through the halls of the temple, Rex tries and fails to be inconspicuous, in full kit looking around in awe yet still trying to blend in. They manage to get to a plain door halfway down a quiet hallway. Ahsoka waves a hand to open it, and inside is Master Yoda, sitting one of four cushions in the room. “Padawan Tano, “ he greeted, “Sit, you may. Tell me of your situation, will you, hm?”

“Yes,” Ahsoka sits down, “Captain Rex here,” she notices he’s still standing at parade rest so she pulls him onto the other cushion with an ‘oof’, “is Force-sensitive. I’ve already tested him. And he’s also bonded to a crystal he found on Umbara.”

“Hmm.” Yoda closes his eyes for a moment. He opens them, instructing, “Train him, you may, in the ways of the force. But mindful of your attachment to him, you must be. Then, instruct him to build a lightsaber, if he is ready, you may. Questions, do you have?”

Ahsoka feels Rex tell her _understood_. “No Master. Thank you.” The training begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading! I hope you enjoyed and I look forward to telling more of this story. Also, big fan of human-disaster-with-good-intentions Anakin so he will play a bigger part in future chapters. If you're just itching for the next chapter and are into contextless spoilers I recommend looking up Mari Lwyd. As always, have a good day or get some sleep depending on your current time.


	3. The Celebration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is actually a fun chapter, basically all humorous fluff, unlike last one. I had lots of fun with this drawing from my family's watered down version of the Welsh Mari Lwyd tradition, which- like the chapter says- is basically someone in a cloak and horse skull who rhyme-battles door to door on Christmas. And they get to take your alcohol if you lose. In our version, we do a tournament style battle and the last two have to shoot a balloon in the woods with an arrow. Not so hard, is it? It's much harder wearing a horse skull. Anyway that's the inspiration for this chapter. Next one will be back with Rex and Ahsoka. Have fun~

Meanwhile, on the Resolute

Clones from both the 104th and 501st mingle in the mess hall, enjoying each other's company for the first time in months. With back to back deployments for the Hero With No Fear's legion and relief missions on remote outer-rim worlds for the Wolfpack, this lull in action is a treat. Though slightly lonely without the 212th, it gives the shinies a chance to meet new _vode_ and allows for some rare quiet companionship from the energetic boys in blue.

Interrupting that quiet chatter is Laan’i bursting in- more like sliding with the beskar she’s stuck on her boot treads. Donning a short cloak with the hood up, and where her _buy’ce_ normally sits is instead a _lashod_ skull complete with moveable flimsi ears and a jaw that could move up and down with wire running through the cloak. With shriek-hawk feathers in place of a mane and braids the colors of her pinstripes going down the right to her shoulder, the getup is surely a spectacle. A jingle bell martingale draped over her shoulders and a necklace with _jai’galaar,_ mythosaur, and feather shaped metal charms add a certain flair. The only identifying features are her armor from the hips down, and her voice.

Fives startles enough to knock Echo off the bench when Laan’i shouts,“ _Copaan’i mirshmure’cye_? ‘Cause you could sure as _haran_ use one today!”

“What the kriff,” he yells when he turns to see a decorated skull resting on his shoulder.

“Y’all gotta learn more about your culture,” Laan’i responds loud enough for the rest of the table to hear. Every identical face in the vicinity looks to the thing standing before them. “This is a _Mando’ade_ tradition. On the night of the solstice, _evaar’ciri_ , which is now, the winner of last year’s game wearing a decorated _lashod_ skull shows up to your door and you sass battle it out either till no more shade can be thrown, or someone gets KO’d if it turns hand to hand. But either way the loser’s gotta give up all their alcohol,” Laan’i explains through the echoey chamber of the skull, not bothering to move the jaw.

Equally blank faces stare back at her until Tup pieces it together. “So you rap battle a _lashod_ skull either until someone gets ripped to pieces or you run out of insults, plus all your booze is on the line?”

“ Yes, but you only gotta rap your insults if you want to, “ Laan’i claps Tup’s shoulder in approval and adds, “and if you don’t have contraband you can give up credits.”

Fives’s smile widens at the implications of these rules.

And that, my friends, is how Anakin walks into the mess hall to find Laan’i jump Wolffe mid-insult, knocking him out with the skull on her head. Or so they all thought. As the “winner” struts away, Wolffe stands up and throws a string of Mando’a and Togrutan insults and expletives so impressive that Laan’i whirls around and puts the martingale she was wearing over his head. She turns around announcing,” Behold, the _chakaar’ad_ who beat the reigning champion!” She turns her ears forward and opens the mouth a bit in a mock smile, saying, “After a ten-minute- sass-off turned close combat, taking a skull to the face like a champ, and rebounding with the most vulgar words I’ve heard- from 2 languages- artfully strung together… Commander Wolffe!”

She grabs his wrist before he can protest, holds it up as every clone in the mess cheers, and drops it to point to the prize. “By the way, you’re gonna need to find your own skull and cloak by next year if you wanna keep your title.” Wolffe rolls his eyes as she slides away as if she’s skiing.

“Oh, I’m sending this to the Captain!” Jesse laughs as Laan’i slides up across from him, Kix, Coric, and Tup to sit next to Fives and Echo, all crowded around a datapad with the entire battle on holo- from Fives to Wolffe. All of it.

Anakin standing near the table, staring into space, mouth ajar, blinks a few times at the creature before him.

She waves him over, “Hey General! Come here and see all the fun you missed!” Then she sees some shinies staring at her and snaps, “ _Meg? Tion gar haa’tayli_ ,” making them scurry away.

“What. The kriff. Was that?” Anakin’s eyebrows threaten to merge with his eyeballs as he sits deep in thought.

“Today’s a Mandalorian holiday and that was our main tradition,” Laan’i answers.

“The champion, Laan’i in this case but Wolffe next year, slides up to their victims and engages in a sass battle- entirely in Mando’a- until one of them is at a loss for words or it becomes a fight and someone taps out or dies, preferably not the latter. It’s over when someone beats Laan’i- or whoever the champion is- who has been collecting the losers’ alcoholic beverages up to this point, in which they earn the title and all the alcohol. That or Laan’i beats everyone, keeps the alcohol and the title and we do this all over again, any questions?” Kix elaborates.

Anakin appears to process this for a moment before his face lights up. “Why didn’t anyone tell me? That sounds awesome!” The group of usually boisterous clones is as silent as their Mandalorian companion for once. “Uhh, guys?” At that, the group shakes off their confused, concerned, and thoughtful expressions.

Fives shrugs. “I guess we just got pretty into it and kinda forgot you existed, sir.”

_Oh Force. Why did it have to be him? Even Laan’i or Hardcase could’ve come up with a better mess of words than that_ , Kix thinks in exasperation. With a small smile Anakin says, with a hint of disappointment, “Oh, okay. Can I play next year?” He is met with a chorus of enthusiastic “yes sir”s from some and “ _Kark ‘lek_ ”s from others. “Oh, and what are the metal treads for?”

“Makes it funnier if the _lashod_ gets drunk and slips around a bunch.”

“One more thing,” Anakin adds with a wink, “ Laan’i, I expect either you or Fives to bring the title back to the 501st next year if I don’t beat you to it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando'a Words  
> vode: brothers/comrades/buddies  
> buy'ce: helmet  
> lashod: horse-like animal found on Mandalore and surrounding planets (based on лошадь horse in Russian)  
> jai'galaar: shriek-hawk- large hawk found on Mandalore. Rex's Jaig eyes are based off shriek hawk eyes  
> copaan'i mirshmure'cye: You looking for a slap in the face?/ slap on the head?  
> haran: h- e- double hockey sticks  
> evaar'ciri: "fresh/new snow" what I think winter solstice might be in mandoa, also the name of the holiday  
> chakaar'ad: son of a b**ch  
> Meg? Tion gar haa'tayli: What? What are you lookin' at?  
> Kark 'lek: F**k yeah!
> 
> Whew! That was alot of translating. I'm gonna pack in for the night, as always thank you for reading!


	4. The Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this one might be a little longer than the others. I wanted to show some internal conflict and resolve in Rex and also some worldbuilding for Mandalorians. Take a sip of water every time I say Mandalore or something in Mando'a, you'll be very hydrated. I want to keep Rex's character grounded despite his Force-sensitivity and even by the end of this I don't plan on him being exceptionally powerful. Not spoiling anything, but I think I want this to explore the Force as a relatively unimportant part of his life, something most people don't know about Rex even when he is fully trained. Anyway,I'm happy with how it turned out and I think you all will be too.

The Jedi Temple

Ahsoka and Rex were in Ahsoka’s room meditating. That is until Rex asks what day it is, making Ahsoka lose concentration..

“Rex, we’ve only been meditating 5 minutes,” she sighs. “Just try to connect with the Force. It takes some time but once you get the hang of this you can learn to make your _jetii’kad_ , alright?”

Rex relaxes when he hears the Mando’a word. But that makes him think of his brothers and Laan’i. 

Suddenly, Rex finds himself in the mess back at the barracks, Mando’a curses and insults being tossed between Fives and Laan’i like a bolo-ball.

_Ok, now this is getting weird_ , he thinks. _Arguing maybe? No, she sounds too playful_ _and Fives is smiling_. He can’t see Laan’i though, just a cloaked figure with an animal skull. _What the shab? When did that happen? Who is that?_

Rex manages to look around a little. When he steps back, not that he can feel himself step on anything, he can see what all the commotion is about. Not that it makes sense. Black and white beskar’gam peeks out from under the cloak. The jingle of chains and appearance of feathers as the person turns means it can only be one person. _Of course Laan’i is dressed like this, why wouldn’t she be?_ Rex thinks with the mental equivalent of an eye roll. He is still wondering what’s going on and, more importantly, how Laan’i got the skull and whether or not the 501st needs another obscure rule. 

“Rex. Rex?” A gentle shake from Ahsoka brings him out of his trance. 

“What just happened? Wh-where was I? But now I’m here… what the kriff?” Rex looks all around, patting the floor to see if it’s real.

“You went somewhere?” Rex doesn’t get shaken up often, so naturally she’s concerned. She puts her hand on his shoulder to ground him a bit.

“I- I was on the Resolute. In the mess hall. I heard Laan’i and Fives shouting, not aggressive or anything, more like teasing. But all I could see was Fives with his hands on his hips with that look he gets when he’s about to pull a prank as he watched this, uhh-someone- in a cloak wearing a skull like it was a bucket. Then he laughed, insulted Bones, and I had no kriffin’ idea what kind of _osik_ was goin’ on so I stepped back and looked around. Ugh, I feel so _di’kut’la_ ,” he sighs,” Laan’i was the one wearing the skull the whole time. What freaked me out though is I,” he laughs, “didn’t have any hands.” 

Ahsoka laughs. “Don’t worry, you have hands now. You had a vision. Sometimes you can look around in them but other times it plays out like a dream.”

“So was it the future or is that what my troopers are up to right now?” 

Ahsoka rests her head on her knuckles. “Considering you aren’t very connected to the Force yet, but you are to the men, I’d say it was in the present.”

Ahsoka can see the metaphorical gears in Rex’s head turn as his smile turns into a small frown of concentration. “What’s the date,” he asks a few seconds later.

“December 21st...I think. Why?” 

“Today’s the winter solstice on Mandalore. I completely forgot! It’s a big holiday, _Evaar’ciri_ , kinda like Life Day. Every year, back on Kamino, we’d all call a truce on any prank wars and the trainers let us play around with each other and just be kids. The one day of the year we didn’t have to learn and practice military tactics.” Something between a fond laugh and contemptuous scoff escapes Rex’s mouth.

“Is that why Laan’i was wearing the costume,” Ahsoka asks, repositioning herself to curl up against her friend. With the sunlight gone and Togruta’s low body temperatures, she gets cold easily.

Rex shrugs. “It might be a thing on Mandalore but we weren’t really able to get the full experience.. Seems like something’ Laan’i’s clan would do though,” Rex chuckles at what he imagines that game would look like in the clan that raised Torrent Company’s _sass’alor._ “I just feel bad not being there.”

“Don’t feel bad, I’m sure they’re all having too much fun trying on the skull to notice,” Ahsoka tries to lighten the mood. 

It works because Rex laughs and adds, “As if she’d let anyone near it! Imagine some poor shiny thinking it’s a real animal.”

“She’d probably give him a heart attack.”

“Headbutt him onto his _shebs_ is what she’d do.”

The thought of a shiny scared _dar’osik_ from a bad encounter with a fake skeleton is enough to get both of them clutching their sides laughing. Then Ahsoka got an idea.

“Not as exciting as whatever the boys are doing now, but maybe we could make our own _ef- ee- uh, efar_ \- the thing! The holiday- we could make our own tradition. Remember those songs and dances you guys did with the Mandos after we caught Maul? You could teach me those, or _I_ could teach _you_ some object levitation.”

“I’ll do the levitating. Never been good at singing anyway.”

“Pfffft, come on, I bet you’re a great singer. Your brothers are and, well, you all have the same vocal cords. Right?”

“I sound like a dying varactyl. And I already have blonde hair, might as well be the one clone who can’t sing” Rex smirks. The truth is, he just doesn’t like singing.

“ _I_ like your hair if that counts for anything. And keep it long, now I can do this,” Ahsoka says, ruffling the clone’s hair despite his protests.

“You done now?” Rex deadpans.

“Yeah. Catch!” she launches a smooth stone from her desk at Rex with the Force. He twists to catch it, but never does. It doesn’t hit him either, but instead floats in the middle of the room. That is until Rex, surprised by not getting hit, lowers his arm and looks over his shoulder to see the rock drop to the floor.

“That’s fine,” Ahsoka reassures, “ You just broke concentration for a second. Try manipulating the energy around the object instead of using your energy, it’ll take less concentration.” 

After lots of trial and error, Rex starts getting frustrated. That’s putting it lightly, he was beyond frustrated. “I can’t do this,” he snaps.

“What do you mean? Of course you can,"

“I _mean_ , I’m 21 and I’m trying to do stuff I should have learned when I was 5! I just wasn’t meant to do this. If I was, I would’ve been found by the Jedi a long time ago, but I wasn’t. I’ll never be good at anything besides fighting. ” 

“Rex please not this again,” Ahsoka rolls her eyes. As much as she loves him, his self-doubt can be annoying at times. “You have a gift. You’re supposed to learn to use it because the Force chose you specifically. I promise once you do this successfully it’ll be second nature in no time, you just need to know what it feels like. Concentrate. Relax. Think of it like when you tried shooting a bow. Remember how hard it was at first and how it got easier,” Ahsoka encourages. 

Rex remembers that dare. Laan’i handed him the beskar recurve bow. Even with the cutouts, it was still very heavy. It was weird pulling back, standing perpendicular to the target but still aiming for it, all while trying to hold the right position. Way outside of his comfort zone. He remembered Laan’i doing what he does to trainees- making things difficult. Whether that was to make him do it well or because she was upset about the dare, he doesn’t know. She kept pushing his elbow in line with his wrist and shoulder, not letting any mistakes in form go unnoticed, saying “draw straight back” “find your anchor point” “look through the sight, _di’kut_ ” and his least favorite but most common, “ _Udesii,_ stop torqueing it.'' He thought he was doing just fine, like every other time he tried a new blaster. The draw weight was hard, even with Rex’s athleticism. He managed, though. Not good by any means, but he got the feel of it, and with each shot fired it got easier and easier. In retrospect, it wasn’t the different weapon or the different style, it was Rex not wanting to let himself believe he could do it, thinking his extensive training was all he needed.

Back to the rock. He tries to lift it once more. It’s wavering as Ahsoka suppresses the urge to cheer him on like this is a bolo-ball match, instead projecting calm and encouragement through the Force.

“Udesii,” Rex keeps telling himself, and he’s trying so hard. It falls down yet again. Rex puts his head in his hands in defeat and frustration.

“You got it in the air this time,” Ahsoka offers. 

“But I couldn’t keep it there!” Just as Rex starts to lift his head up and run a hand through his hair in exasperation the rock shatters into a million pieces.

“Ouch!” 

Rex instinctively looks for Ahsoka to see what went wrong. A crimson slice along her cheekbone seems to be the only injury. Rex never thought he’d hurt Ahsoka after nearly killing her on Mandalore, but apparently he was wrong. He feels so guilty. More worried. Maybe both, he can’t say for sure. 

  
  


“ _N’ceta_ , I-I shouldn’t have done that. I don’t know what that was but I don’t like it, I don’t even know what I did. What if I’m too dangerous? I might hurt you again.” He feels like all his energy is drained out of him and slides his knees up to his chest, sighing in defeat. “I knew I wasn’t cut out for this,” he mumbles.

“Rex! It’s fine, it’s just a scratch.” Ahsoka walks over to him, saying, “ _Gar jate, cyar’ika_.” She smiles at the flicker of warmth in his eyes as she pulls him to his feet. “I’m the one who should be sorry. I pushed you too hard. And don’t worry, this happens all the time with younglings, you’re not a danger to anyone. You just need practice. Don’t worry about the mess either, it’ll be easy to sweep up.” She waves dismissively at the shards on the floor before changing the subject, ”I never showed you the courtyard!”

“Th- Whoa!” 

Wasting no time, Ahsoka drags Rex by the arm through the halls of the temple until they come upon a transparisteel wall with large, hexagonal doorways. They walk through into a huge area with trees and the night sky, flowers, and a small waterfall with a stream running along a path. It’s like a stunning cross between a manicured version of the Mandalorian forests and Felucia minus the danger. 

“Wow,” is the only word Rex can describe it as. Ahsoka takes him over to the waterfall and they climb onto a ledge to see the sky better. A crisp breeze rustles the luminescent foliage. It’s so large and immersive no one would know they were on Coruscant if it weren’t for the speeder lanes above.

“You sure you want the _exact_ song you heard on Mandalore to be our tradition,” Rex asks with a hint of ‘please say no’ in his voice.

A sly smile tugs at Ahsoka’s lips. “Oh, I want to hear it even more now. How bad can it be, I mean, Mandalorians are extremely conservative about, you know-”

“No! No, not like that, it just doesn’t really fit with the whole Winter-Solstice-Shatual-Season-Celebration.” Rex wishes he had his bucket because he knows he’s blushing. Ahsoka blinks and raises an eye marking.

“You mean this entire holiday is based on the start of deer season on Mandalore?”

“Yeah. Come on, you know how important hunting is.”

“No, yeah, I just thought it was about, I dunno, rejoice and spiritual uplifting when you said it was like Life Day. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it just took me by surprise,” Ahsoka fumbles with darkened lekku.

“It’s all good, and yes it is about rejoice in that hunting is spiritually uplifting to Mando’ade.”

After a few beats of silence, Rex stands up and sings, 

“Naasad’guur mhi

Naasad’guur mhi

Mhi n’ulu

Mhi Mando’ade

Kandosii’ade

Teh Manda’yaim,

Mando’ade” a few times before Ahsoka catches on to the fast pace and claps to the rhythm, singing along to her best ability.

Rex pulls her down from the ledge to lead her in a lively Mandalorian dance. Not elegant in the least but an _osik_ -ton of fun, the two dance until they practically collapse on the ground, smiling like _di’kute_ looking up at the sky.

“Oh, I sound like a dying varactyl,” Ahsoka mocks. 

Rex snorts,” To be fair, I was a little stressed out at the moment.”

“A little?”

“Ok, a lot.”

“So what brought this change of tune on,” Ahsoka snickers at her own pun.

“I thought about how I was acting and realized how stubborn I was being. I was stuck in my ways, trying to tell myself I don’t need the Force. I can control it now and I can’t change that, but what I can change is my attitude,” Rex explains. Now relaxed, he spots a rock between himself and Ahsoka. He concentrates, relaxes, truly relaxes, and lifts it with the Force. He moves it into Ahsoka’s line of sight, preparing his best _osik_ -eating grin for when she looks at him. 

“You did it! You’re doing it,” Ahsoka all but screams, “See, I told you you could do it!” She turns to Rex, and swats his arm when she sees his face. Then she goes in for a hug and Rex drops the rock, not because he lost concentration, but because he returns the hug. 

“ _Vor’e_ ,” he says, a little surprised with the display of affection.

“Are you going to be back to the confident Rex used to know now that you can lift a rock?”

“Yeah,” Rex laughs, “I won’t pout like a cadet anymore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations  
> jetii'kad- lightsaber  
> shab- f**k  
> beskar'gam- armor  
> osik- s**t  
> di'kut'la- idiotic  
> evaar'ciri- "first/new snow" Mandalore's holiday on their winter solstice (not canon, my invention)  
> sass'alor- "sass leader/ruler" sass master in this context  
> shebs- butt  
> dar'osik- negative form of osik, "s**tless"  
> udessi- easy/relax  
> N'ceta- I'm sorry  
> Gar jate, cyar'ika- you're all good, love  
> Naasad’guur mhi Naasad’guur mhi Mhi n’ulu Mhi Mando’ade Kandosii’ade Teh Manda’yaim, Mando’ade- No one likes us, No one likes us, We don't care. We are Mandos, The elite boys, Mando boys, From Mandalore  
> vor'e- thanks  
> And on that note, thank you for reading. Feel free to leave a comment, as I cherish every one and appreciate your thoughts- even keysmashes. Especially keysmashes.


	5. The Range

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What was supposed to be a quick prank turned into a chapter exploring Fives and Laan'i's reletionship and their unique dynamic. Just a nice, fluffy, banter-filled chapter to start your week. Also lots of archery terminology but I think there's enough context. If there's not just ask in the comments or look it up. Draw weight is in pounds here, not kilos, btw. Have fun~

The next day, 501st Barracks

Tink. Click, click, click. Clang. The sparsely populated barracks are filled with the calm quiet of repairing and checking weapons, some more quiet than others. ( _*Ahem*. Laan’i, I hate to break it to you but your compound bow sounds like you’re ripping the transmission out of a Dodge)_

That relative quiet is broken by none other than Fives. “Whatcha doin’ there, _Laan’ika_ ,” he asks, idly cleaning his Decees.

“ _Me’copaani_ , ” Laan’i huffs, still focused on the task at hand.

“Why would I want something?” Fives brings a hand to his chest in mock-offense.

“You called me _Laan’ika_.”

Fives closes the small distance between the two bunks and turns the puppy dog eyes on, “Can I use your bow?”

“Sure,” Laan’i responds finishing the adjustments, jumps down from her bunk, and hands Fives the bow after putting her tools away. He cocks his head, eyes narrowing in suspicion. After the Incident-We-Shall-Not-Speak-Of, he’s surprised Laan’i let him have the bow again so easily.

Before he had time to think, though, Laan’i walks out of the barracks, waving for him to follow. “If you can draw it, I’ll let you shoot it,” she calls over her shoulder.

A few of the men look up, intrigued at the implications of that. Fives turns to them and shrugs. 

He follows Laan’i to the range and sees that she has her training arrows in her quiver. Good, because Fives didn’t think to bring any arrows. 

“How do I use this thing again?”

Laan’i takes the bow and steps into an archer’s stance, feet apart and turned to the side. She grabs an arrow, instructing, “Bring the arrow through the front, nock it and put up the arrow rest, clip the release to the nocking loop- _not the string_ \- pull back, aim, pull the trigger.”

The arrow hits the deactivated B1 droid they use for practice with so much force it goes through the head and sticks into the wall. 

“ _Haar’chak_ , those field tips” Laan’i remarks. 

“You aren’t intimidating me,” Fives answers back. “I’ll take the bow now if that’s ok with you.” 

The bow is shoved into his right hand and an arrow in his left. Laan’i puts the release on his wrist because she doesn’t trust this loveable di’kut not to somehow hurt his wrist. That and he’d complain about the buckles. She can hear it now, _“we don’t have these stupid things on our armor” “why does archery make things so hard” “IT’S NOT BUCKLING”_

“Remember, draw straight back, don’t grip the bow itself too much or you’ll torque it and-oh no, you’re right eye dominant. That’s not ideal.” 

“Oh no!? Whaddaya _mean_ ‘oh no’? And I’m what?” Fives asks, seemingly frozen in place.

“Y’know what, it’s fine just aim a little left, and do it right. Keep your form, it's gonna be heavy,” she says with a mischievous glint in her ice-blue eyes. “This is the only thing you’ll see me take seriously. Now go!”

“You don’t take surgery seriously?”

“I said the only thing you’d see me take seriously, you’re anesthetized during surgery so you didn’t actually _see_ me fix you up that one time, and you’re too much of a _laandur_ to watch surgery anyway,” Laan’i shoots back. “Don’t talk, just shoot.”

Fives pulls about a third of the way back before he draws forward. “Agh! Laan’i!” he whips his head around to see her grinning.

“What?”

“How _kriffin_ ’ much is your _kriffing_ draw weight,” Fives shouts.

“One thirty,” Laan’i answers, keeping her best poker face.

“One thirty,” Fives blinks.

“Yup.”

“Laan’i, I’m not an archer and even I know that’s insane! How _shabla_ strong are you?”

“I’d say about 130.”

“ _Mir’sheb_.” Fives tries again getting it drawn back all the way with a death grip on the bow.

“ _Udesii_ , Fives, loosen the grip.”

He does just that, aims a little left of the bullseye, and pulls the trigger. Rotating his drawing arm in relief, he looks to the target and sees that he hit a few inches left and slightly below the bullseye. “I did pretty good,” he says, a grin spreading across his face.

“For your first time, yeah. Did you really have that much trouble drawing back?”

Fives looks at the bow, “... No! I-it was easy,” he attempts to lie. 

“Sure it was, Fives!” Jesse booms from the sidelines among a few shinies, while Echo mocks, “How _kriffin_ much is your kriffin' draw weight!” 

Fives pouts at the torment he’s receiving but decides to change gears and yeets the bow at Echo so he could beat his shebs. Echo gasps when the bow hits his pauldron, clangs to the floor and lands in front of a shiny now frozen with fear. 

“Don’t worry it’s fine,” Laan’i starts to say but gets cut off by Fives hurling himself at his brother. Echo steps aside just in time, but Fives doesn’t back down.

Jesse looks Echo dead in the eye and says, “Run.” Echo takes off out of the range with Fives hot on his heels. Scuffing boots and rattling plastoid gets quieter with distance.

“Should we go after them?” One of the shinies asks.

“Nah, I think Echo’ll live, Fives hates paperwork,” Laan’i responds casually, “Anyone else want a shot?” she beams holding out her bow.

“I like my arms intact, thanks,” Jesse deadpans while the two shinies avoid eye contact.

“Suit yourselves,” she shrugs as the boys go to their lanes with their blasters.

Laan’i steps into her lane and fires her expanding broadhead. It whistles down the lane before the shiny next to her could even pull his trigger. The arrow sliced the droid’s head off, landing in the X of the target behind it. The sound of metal scraping metal makes the shiny look over in awe.

“That thing went into the wall,” he exclaims.

“Ugh! Those are such a pain in the shebs to pull out,” Laan’i growls.

“This has happened before?”

“Happens all the time, kid.”

“Be glad she’s on our side. _Tion’ad hukaat’kama, ni serim_?” Jesse adds, “Those arrows might save your life someday.”

“I’m flattered but less yappin’ more blasting.” 

Towards the end of target practice, the shiny next to Laan’i missed his target and the bolt ricocheted off the beams separating the lanes, back to the bullseye on the target. Jesse suggests the name Crackshot and it sticks. 

Shortly after, a head-turning thud is heard by the workbench in the corner of the range. When the group turns to look, they see the other shiny flat on his back in a small puddle of oil. From then on he is known as Splat.

Considering the day a success after naming two shinies and filling the targets with blaster burns and arrow holes, Jesse suggests that they go make sure Echo is still alive.

Laan’i is the first to enter the barracks, being greeted with a kama to the face. Falling backwards with less grace than a gungan, none other than Splat goes down with her. Laughing breaks out on both sides of the door. Laan’i stands up and throws the chevron kama back from whence it came, which is Fives.

“I see you finally got tired of shooting,” he says, folding his kama.

“You could’ve joined us after chasing Echo around,” Jesse retorts. “By the way, meet Crackshot and Splat. Not to brag, but I came up with both names.”

“Good, I was about to name you two myself.” Fives slips his vambraces off, leaving his top half in just his blacks. He yelps when a wrench jabs him between his shoulder blades. “What was that for?”

“Try it now,” Laan’i answers, stepping into Fives’ view with the bow.

“What?”

“Dry fire it. It can take it, trust me.”

Fives sighs and takes the bow. His eyes widen in surprise when he draws it with ease. He draws forward to keep his fingers intact and asks, “What did you do to it?”

“Ninety pounds is my normal draw weight, I just put it up to one-thirty to mess with you.” Laan’i puts the bow away and turns back donning a smug grin.

“I can’t believe you would do such a thing,” Fives mocks offense again.

“I do! Whatever it is,” Kix adds, entering the room mid-conversation. Fives rolls his eyes and Laan’i nods a hello as he filters in with more troopers ready to get some rest.

“I gotta admit, that was a good one,” Fives crosses his arms.

“It tricked you, that’s all that matters,” Laan’i says, kicking her boots off.

“I’m ~flattered~ that you care so deeply about me.” Fives tries to wiggle his eyebrows but looks ridiculous.

“You’re so weird,” Laan’i fights a snicker, noticing other conversations dying down.

“Aren’t we all,” Fives says, smothering Laan’i in a bear hug that she allows herself to be trapped in for a moment before wriggling out. The two sit in companionable silence, on Fives’ bunk, his arm around Laan’i’s shoulders, finishing flimsiwork for the upcoming mission until the last of the clones settle in for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this slower, less plot driving chapter. Next one will be more related to the main plot- if you even want to call it a main plot. Anyway, hopefully you got some insight into Laan'i's personality and enjoy her interactions with Fives and his vod'e. Thanks again, and have a good day or night!


	6. The Duel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This turned into a longer one, but I think it goes by pretty fast since I tried to pack alot of action into it. I'll keep this short so you can get right to reading it. Have fun!

**Jedi Temple, End of Week**

Rex learned a lot and got a lot of practice this past week. Without letting his emotions affect the objects he manipulates, it’s much easier to listen to the Force. He’s caught onto lightsaber forms pretty well, taking naturally to a sort of hybrid between forms 2 and 5. Ahsoka only taught him through form 4 but for whatever reason Form 5 seems natural to him. He doesn’t fight quite as fluently or acrobatic as Ahsoka, but not overly tight and rigid. He is aggressive, quick on his feet, and easily blocks and strikes Ahsoka’s blows in a dance of “death”. A particularly eager blade lock snaps his wood blade, making both duelers flinch. That seems like a good time to end the practice session.

“Whenever you feel ready, you can make your  _ jetii’kad _ ,” she offers.

“Yes!” Rex’s eyes light up at the offer. They both laugh when they realize how he answered that. “I meant now. I’m ready now,” he corrects. 

Ahsoka leads Rex to get some lightsaber pieces. She directs him to a workbench on the far side of the room, away from the curious gazes of the few younglings currently occupying the space.

Rex closes his eyes and lets the Force do its thing. He can’t see what he’s doing but doesn’t want to look in case he messes it up.. Finally the last piece of metal clicks into place, so he can open his eyes. _His_ _jetii’kad_. His! He still can’t believe it. The metal is a pure shiny white, shining as bright as moonlit snow. Did he use _beskar_? This is glowing, so he doubts it. Plus, why would the Jedi have beskar? Over the white are glossy, deep black pieces that have angles reminiscent of Mandalorian patterns, with 3 dark silver bands around the upper part of the hilt, small enough not to distract from the cutouts. The part the blade comes out of was capped with more black metal, with a thin slice at the bottom allowing the white to glow beneath it, and a diagonal cut at the end of the blade. The hilt isn’t round like all the others he’s seen, but instead more of a flat shape. It also has a very slight curve to it, giving the blade the perfect angle for his fighting style.

“It’s amazing,” Ahsoka compliments,” Are you gonna activate it or what?” 

Rex picks it up and turns it on with a satisfying hiss. It appears white at first but now sees that it’s the same silver color he saw his crystal glow. Interesting. All the weight is in the hilt, but the blade itself is weightless. Speaking of the blade itself, it’s more of a flat sword shape than the standard rounded blade. He gives it a little flourish, grinning at the feel of a real lightsaber. 

“Whaddaya think the boys’ll think of this?” Rex asks, showing off his limited skills, but to no avail because Ahsoka has remembered an important detail.

“They don’t know you’re Force-sensitive,” she blurts out. “We never told them! We never even told anyone how long we were going for besides Anakin.”

“Oh, this’ll be great,” Rex grins as he thinks of ways to reveal his new abilities.

501st Barracks, the next morning

It’s busy with clones out and about. Everyone is antsy waiting for their next assignment, doing anything to a) be productive b) fend off the boredom or c) cause chaos. Most of Torrent Company falls into category c, while the rest fall into category b. Very few fall into category a. Thankfully they’ll be doing a relief mission with the 104th very soon. Ahsoka and Rex arrive amid the chaos caused by category c. 

“How are we gonna tell ‘em I’m Force-sensitive,” Rex asks as he and Ahsoka approach the barracks. It’s a short distance between the temple and barracks so they decided to walk.

“You seemed to be scheming last night. What do you think?” She looks to Rex who is deep in thought running through all his plans to choose the best one. He settles on one after a moment.

“Laan’i’s bow can collapse into a sword-looking thing.”

_ Is-is that it? _ Ahsoka thinks, looking at Rex quizzically.

“Yes, I’m aware of that,” she says flatly, “She uses it in close combat all the time.” 

“Yeah, her bow is  _ beskar _ ,” Rex looks at her expectantly, prodding further, “ Beskar is resistant to lightsabers. Laan’i held her own against Maul while you were still unconscious and I was trying to shoot him.” 

Ahsoka crosses her arms in thought. “So she could duel with you if you put your saber on training mode…But what about the others, they need to know.”

Rex snorts. “Well, I can tell most of Torrent Company’s on the landing strip jet surfing again, so we go there and make an entrance.” he smiles confidently at his plan. 

“How do we do that?” 

“Waltz in there, call for Laan’i and once she’s over to us with all eyes inevitably watching, I whip this out,” he pats his saber, “and we spar.” 

They’ve arrived. Time to put the plan in action.

“Laan’i get over here!” Rex waves his arm while giving his best So-angry-I'm-about-to-slip-into-Mando'a accent _.  _

A chorus of “oooooh’s” and “what’d she do now?” erupts as every blue armored trooper on the landing strip watch Laan’i stop magnetizing her boots to her jetpack. Donning full kit, including her recurve, she jogs over to Rex. Good, the plan would crumble without it and that would just be awkward.

“Not disciplinary, I thought you might want to duel,” Rex says. This is great. He can see the confusion through Laan’i’s  _ buy’ce  _ without any help from the Force.

“Sorry Cap, but do you know how fast that duel would be over? Anything’s possible with those utility belts of y’all’s but I don’t think you’re hiding a _bes’kad_ in your holsters.” Laan’i cocks her head to the side, the ultimate sign of confusion.

“Just collapse the bow. We gotta give these guys a show before they stop watching,” Rex lowers his voice on that last part.

“If your helmet wasn’t on, I’d take your temperature. Are you good? I don’t want to have to dart you with strill sedative.”

“What? No, I’m fine. What would I need strill sedative for?”

“I’ve found it works great when you guys start getting weird. For whatever reason it seems to cure concussions, don’t ask how, all I know is we give it to a clone with head trauma and boom, he’s back to normal. And you seem a little off.” 

After a second of being torn between laughter and horror, Rex says simply, “ _ Tayli gar jatne, _ ” igniting his lightsaber. All helmetless faces hone in on the object with utter shock, and the helmeted ones are looking the same way, most likely with the same expression. Laan’i springs into the air without even bending her knees. Just like a startled tooka.

“ _ Karkin’ osik, shabla chakaar’ad _ ,” Laan’i shouts. Similarly colorful adjectives are heard in the small crowd. 

Rex shrugs it off, saying, “Come on, Laan’i, you’ve seen a  _ jetii’kad  _ before.”

“ _Shab_ , not that one! Where the _ kark _ did ya get that thing?” 

“I made it. I can use the Force now.” Shock buzzes in the Force.

“I’m sorry, what?” 

“Yeah, I’m Force-sensitive.” 

“This should be easy for me then.” In one swift motion Laan’i collapses her bow and telescopes the bottom limb into the riser a bit, making the almost 6-foot-long bow into a sharp staff just a bit longer than a jetii’kad. She holds it in a reverse grip, although a little closer to the middle than she’d be able to with a real lightsaber. She lunges for Rex immediately. Whoever gets a hit first wins, and she’s determined to get that first hit. She has a way of putting her entire body into her swings so her opponent can’t use her reverse grip against her by predicting her moves. That, and she constantly flips her wrist over like a hockey player reverse passing, confusing her opponent more. Rex knows this though, and blocks each of her attacks easily as the Force guides him. His style is most similar to that of a color guard, utilizing flourishing saber moves, but keeping his body movements more consistent. 

Block after block after block, they seem equally matched. That is until they get into a blade lock. Laan’i is incredibly strong but so is Rex, and he’s heavier. Laan’i starts to back off and uses the momentum to jerk forward and push Rex’s saber away. In a lightning-fast move, when Laan’i is about to swing, Rex ducks and strikes her shin plates.

“ _ Haar’chak _ !” Laan’i growls.

“Guess who lost to a Jedi, everyone? That’s right, a Jedi-hunting Mandalorian!” Fives booms from the sidelines, slow clapping with all the smugness he can muster.

“ _ Ne’johaa _ , Fives,” Laan’i snaps, whacking the him on arm .

“Ow!”

“ _ Skota iisa _ what can I say,” Laan’i quips, walking back over to Rex to reluctantly congratulate him. They shake hands, Laan’i promises she will beat him next time, and runs off to finish jet surfing.

“That went well,” Ahsoka says as she and Rex walk to the barracks to get assignment details.

“For them?” Rex gestures vaguely to the 501st. “Yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I hope you had as much fun reading this as I did writing it. I don't know why but I always imagine Mando'a as being spoken in a Russian accent?? Like, I know Jango has a New Zealand accent and Satine sounds kinda British and Bo-Katan sounds American so I have no idea where that thought comes from lol. Anyway, how do you like the silver lightsaber? The hilt is based off of Starkiller's lightsabers. I honestly didn't know that at the time- I just saw the picture and was like "oh those are cool" and when I found that picture just now to link it I was like oh that makes sense. So y'all can just look it up if you want a visual. Anyway, enough rambling, here's the Mando'a translations:  
> jetii'kad- lightsaber  
> buy'ce- helmet  
> bes'kad- beskar sword  
> Tayli gar jatne- bring your best  
> kark- f**k, more of just a general exclamation though  
> osik- sh*t  
> shabla- adjectave form of kark  
> chakaar'ad- son of a b**ch  
> haar'chak- dammit  
> ne'johaa- shut up  
> skotah iisa- short fuse  
> Thanks for reading!


	7. The Steal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short, fun chapter for y'all. I really like the fanon idea that clones use CT numbers like a parent using your full name so I included that. I mention clones having civilian clothes in this and what I was picturing was something like a dark blue shirt with a little 501st logo and whatever the Star Wars equivalent of Carhartt pants is. I didn't specify though so let your imagination run wild lol. One last thing: I got this chapter idea from this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvdfDveEQh4 You might have seen it but it's pretty funny.

The resolute, Hyperspace

Rex stomps out of the showers wearing just his lower blacks. He is not pleased. There, in the middle of the floor in Torrent Company’s barracks, is a small box containing his soap, an empty bottle of what looked to be bacta spray- weird but okay- towel, upper blacks, and civvies. Where his armor is Rex doesn’t know but he _ will  _ find out. He puts the civvies on over his blacks. He wants to put his armor on, wherever that is, ASAP. He sees a note on flimsi stuck to the wall by the door with an arrow. He reads it and decides his best bet to get to the bottom of this is to go to the main hangar. Unless that was a diversion. No, he can’t think of that right now, he has an objective. Whether Laan’i was in on this, the orchestrator, sole collaborator, or not involved at all, Rex isn’t sure but he suspects two people were involved based on past experience. 

He stomps into the hangar thankfully finding most, if not all of Torrent Company doing nose art on everything imaginable. He drops the small box of stolen items on the floor unceremoniously. Then he grabs the empty bottle.

“Listen up!” All activities halt as everyone looks to their captain. “One of you stole my stuff and left it in the barracks with this,” he says, waving around the bacta spray. “This just doesn’t even make sense.” He drops it back in the box, now picking up the soap. “But what got me the most was my soap! Who steals soap? What could you possibly gain from stealing someone else’s soap and leaving it 10 feet away from where you stole it,” Rex says, shaking his head in exasperation.

At this point, he’s angrily waving the small soap bottle around. No one can keep a straight face anymore. Then he sees him.  _ Fives _ . He can feel the cheekiness and pride rolling of the man in waves, even through all the amusement everyone’s spewing into the area. It also helps that Fives’ pauldrons are betraying what he thinks to be a sneaky hiding spot behind a narrow crate.

“Fives!” Rex can feel the shift in Fives’ energy as his laughter fizzles out and he freezes. Rex strides over to him.

“Did you do this?” Rex looks down to see Fives put on his puppy dog eyes. Ugh, _ great _ .

“Oh, hewwo Cwaptain.” Fives looks innocent, but Rex can see the deviousness in his eyes. It’s there. It’s always there.

“You stole the soap,” Rex says dryly, still looking at Fives, who fights a snicker. Rex sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose,

“How- How do I even punish this?” 

Then he sees Laan’i walking over to a LAAT with a wrench poorly disguising a datapad. Interesting.

“Laan’i, stop right there,” he shouts.

“No can do, Cap, I got a larty to fix,” she rattles off, walking faster.

Rex turns to face her, saying, “CT-3509 get back here right now!” The Mandalorian stops in her tracks.

“Did you just use my fake CT number?”

“You heard me.”

“Ugh. Fine,” she saunters over, mumbling, “dad.”

Rex decides he didn’t hear that. He crosses his arms and gets right to the point. “Shiny-sitting, both of you, one week.”

“What’d _ I  _ do?” 

“That’s my belt, so I’m assuming you were the one who hid my armor while Fives moved my stuff,” he reaches into his pocket and continues, “and you used an arrow to stick this note to the barracks wall _in your handwriting_.” He holds up a piece of flimsi that reads, "TORRENT BOIS, MEET US IN MAIN HANGAR 4 NOSE-ART @0630"

“Which reminds me, where the  _ shab  _ did you put the rest of my armor?”

“Well, you see, Cap-” 

“I didn’t ask you, Fives!”

Biting down her laughter, Laan’i explains, “I distributed some parts between clones, one’s with Ahsoka and the rest is wherever is in range of my  _ bes’kava, _ ” she unclips the belt and throws it, unfortunately hitting a shiny who wasn’t paying attention. She and Fives share a look and run away.

  
Rex whirls around and drags them back with the Force, They groan in annoyance when he grabs each by their backplates. They know they’ve lost when Rex does that, and now he’s called the shinies over. “Bolt, Ratchet, Crankshaft, Turbo, and Clutch, meet Fives,” he gives Fives a little shake, ”and Laan’i,” he gives her a shake too, “They’ll be showing’ you the ropes the next two weeks. Don’t hesitate to ask questions, they just _ love _ mentoring. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m gonna go look for the rest of my armor,” Rex picks up the belt balancing on Clutch’s helmet and walks away to look for his scattered  _ beskar’gam _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope y'all enjoyed this short, silly chapter. You might be wondering why Laan'i has a CT number if she's not a clone and the answer is paperwork. I'll explain in my prequel fic (I really gotta work on that) Not many translations but I couldn't find any Mando'a words for bow, so I called it a bes'kava. I think this showed Rex's connection to the Force pretty well but let me know what you think. Anyway, that's all for now!


	8. The Mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is part one of Rex's first battle as a Force-sensitive. I'm almost done editing part two so that will be out soon. Have fun~

The familiar hustle and bustle of troopers loading onto freshly painted, now dry, gunships is more than welcome after two weeks off the field. 

There has been news of a droid factory still in operation on Dantooine located in a remote mountainside. The 501st is being sent in to fight any droids, a battalion according to reports, and disable the factory by any means necessary. Anakin plans to have most of the 501st fighting the droid battalion that would be stationed outside the base while a small infiltration team composed of the ARCs and Ahsoka go into the factory however they can. As of now the plan is that they sneak in to the assembly line, placing detonators on their way back. 

The gunships race down to the surface. The infiltration team drops down a few clicks away from the rest. As they approach the entrance the plan starts to seem… insufficient. The entrance they were supposed to sneak in through wasn’t supposed to be guarded, but two magnaguards, six battle droids, and a turret are set up in front of the enormous mountain.

Ahsoka hits a button on her comm and holds her hand up in a “wait” gesture.

“ Yes, Master, you heard me. two guards, a turret, six droids, and locked blast doors.”

“ _ Our intel told us the South entrance was unguarded!” _

“Well they were wrong. I’ll figure something out, just hold tight out there.”

“ _ Wait, I’m sending Laan’i. Our battle is more straightforward than yours.” _

_ “ _ Master I can handle it!”

“ _ I know you can but I’d feel better if you weren’t outnumbered by magnaguards. Skywalker out.” _

Ahsoka growls at the static on the other end. She’s fought Grievous twice and lived, it’s not like she can’t handle some tinnies with two ARC troopers backing her up. 

“What’s the plan, Commander,” Echo asks.

“Get rid of the guards while still being stealthy. They have an alarm and if they pull it, the entire factory will either lock down or attack us. My master,” Ahsoka says through grit teeth, “has decided we need backup though.”

“As much as I love a good challenge, we need to take out nine enemies without letting any of them pull the alarm. If this wasn’t a stealth mission I’d say go out there guns blazing.”

“As much as I’d like to get straight to the action, I’m gonna have to agree with Echo. If we don’t do this quietly and efficiently, things will go to osik,” Fives adds. Some rustling is heard in the brush as Laan’i makes her way toward the team.

“What’s the plan,” she asks, crouching behind a rock near Ahsoka.

“I think we can go in pairs from each side, take out the magnaguards and turret first, and block in the droids, picking them off easily,” ahsoka offers, her head resting on her hand.

“How bout we just ask ‘em to let us in?” Fives asks. 

“Um, I don’t think they’ll let us in, Fives,” Ahsoka bursts his bubble. 

“They  _ will _ if two of us pretend to be door to door salesmen, we get in, take ‘em out silently and open the doors for you guys. There! Stealth, check! In the building, check! Effectiveness, check! Limited casualties, che-”

“Ok! I get it, and I do think it’ll work… hopefully. I’m assuming you have a plan for the armor because salesmen don’t wear clone armor.”

“Yes, actually, I do,” Fives then started to take off his armor to reveal his civvies underneath. A little blue-collar looking for a salesman but it’ll work. He waves for Laan’i to follow him and they saunter away.

“Wait, what about her armor,” Ahsoka asks.

“I don’t see any armor. Just a new type of droid,” Echo says.

“I see,” Ahsoka lightens up, seeing how Laan’i mimics the battle droids’ stiff walk.

“I’m the reason this is tame, by the way,” Echo brags.

“I’d love to know what this would be like not toned down,” Ahsoka snickers, “but you can tell me after. I want every detail.”

  
  


On the other end of the battle the sound of blaster fire tears through the air. The small trees and boulders dotting the grassy slopes are littered with burns and the fight is still just beginning. Wave after wave of droids march out of the factory, but the troopers hold their ground.

“Rex, use the Force,” Anakin shouts over the chaos.

“What?” Rex continues to blast droids, not even looking to Anakin.

“You have an advantage, use it!” Anakin orders, deflecting blaster bolts into the droids. Rex activates his lightsaber and starts deflecting bolts in the same way he’s seen a thousand times by now. Even with two Jedi at the front, the droids are beginning to overwhelm them.

“Rex, you and me are gonna weave in between the droids, take as many out as you can, and don’t get shot!”

“Yessir!” 

The two run off in separate directions into the droids. Rex feels overwhelmed, there’s so much blaster fire and so many droids all around him, plus trying to use his new lightsaber and a sixth sense in all this. That’s right, the Force, he’s supposed to use the Force. He hasn’t really been listening to it during the battle, he just went into Captain-mode and tuned it out. He knows he won’t make it all the way through the clanker formation at this rate, though, so he lets the Force guide him. Slashing droids left and right, he dances around them without batting an eye. 

Rex runs back to his men along the outside of the droids with his saber out, demolishing most of the droids as he passes by. He gets back to the front lines, ordering the men to charge. He leads with his eager troopers close behind.

“Hello, potential customers! My name is Shinee Biscuits of Beskar Weapons Manufacturing, LLC. I was thinking you might be interested in our latest model of commando droids the L4-N1,” Fives says with a smile worthy of a holodrama. He grabs a robotically moving Laan’i by the upper arms, bringing her away from the wall she’s currently walking into, whispering, “Not that  _ di’kutla _ .”

The guard droids ponder this for a moment before one asks, “How much does it cost?”

“Free trial for 30 days and if you aren’t satisfied you can return it. Let me take it inside for you. If you could show me where I should put it that would be great.”

“Right this way,” the droid says as his fellow guard presses a button and falls into step with him leading “the salesman” into the factory. Laan’i and Fives each jump a droid, plunging their vibroblades into their heads in a fury of sparks.

They open the door and Fives shoots the battle droids while Laan’i takes out the turret. The element of surprise is definitely on their side.

Fives signals for the other two to come down from the ridge. Then the team gets to work setting detonators, taking out any droids they see. They converge at their entrance point shortly after splitting up.

“I think it’d be best if we go around to help the rest of the boys.” Ahsoka suggests. Fives kits up in record time. “It’s probably best if we fly over,” she adds. The clones take off and Laan’i does a low pass under Ahsoka that forces her to grab onto the jetpack.

“Hang on and don’t get burned,” she warns.

“Whoa! Whaa! Easy, Laan’i, I’m not magnetic!” Ahsoka nearly slips off when Laan’i banks a turn particularly sharp, seemingly forgetting she has a passenger. 

“Gotcha,” Laan’i shouts over the howling wind, making her final turn and landing more smooth.

“ARCs, go for it,” Rex commands. Taking off again after barely touching the ground, the air support swoops and dives like a well oiled machine. Ahsoka gets a chance to detonate the charges with the troopers still pushed back. The mountain crumbles in a deafening roar of metal. Dust rains down from everywhere, making it nearly impossible to see. Red bolts seem to disappear for a moment as the 501st is met with an eerie quiet. 

Then a scraping groan comes from the remnants of the factory. The synchronized stomping of at least fifty light droids come from all around. No one knows which way is which in this mess.

“Octuparas,” a trooper shouts. Rex barely hears his name as he’s launched away from the metallic legs he was slashing away at. His vision floods with red. He hits something, hard, what it is he doesn’t know. He hears his name being called from somewhere in his mind before the world goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! That's a pretty good cliff hanger, am I right? Yeah, that's right, I actually created suspense. And like- conflict. Wow. I'm beat. Anyway, thanks again for reading and not to worry, you'll get to find out what happens to Rex very soon. Chapter's ready it just seemed better to split one chapter into two.


	9. The Mission: Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all this took forever. I didn't like how it turned out, I scrapped it, life got in the way blah blah blah. I got it done though, so here's the rest of last chapter. I left y'all on a cliffhanger too. Without further adue; ~enjoy~

Rex wakes up with a start, jumping into an upright position and grabbing his decees. He realizes that was a bad idea, as his head starts spinning. His lunch threatens to make a reappearance as he gets hit with a wave of pain. Concussion. Of course. 

He must not have been down for long because a short distance away the others are finishing off his octupara. No Ahsoka in sight, though, which means-

“There you are! You were thrown quite a… ways,” Ahsoka’s chipper tone drops to a lower, less painful one. “You’re not okay, are you?”

Rex turns to face her directly, realizing he’s holding a hand to his helmet as if it will ease the pain. He drops it and replies, “ah, it’s nothing,” through gritted teeth.

“Well the battle’s over and the gunships will be at the RV point in a few minutes. Walk with me?”

“Of course, sir,” Rex answers, emphasizing the sir and falling into step with the petite Togruta.

“You must be feeling fine if you’re trying to get on my nerves,” Ahsoka chuckles. Then Rex feels a cold, constant but faint, wave in the Force. He turns around a fraction of a second before Ahsoka to see one last battle droid limping toward them. Rex rolls his eyes, not a good idea it hurt, and before he could think about it, raised a hand and crushed the droid into a sparking entanglement of metal. He drops it unceremoniously on the dirt. He turns around to keep walking but sees Ahsoka staring wide-eyed at him.

“What was that, Rex,” she asks softly.

“I don’t know.”

“Well I do, and you really shouldn’t do that. You let your anger into the Force. That can be dangerous.”

“I’ve always used my anger to fuel myself in battle. Great way to blow off steam by the way,” Rex says, stepping past Ahsoka to head to the gunships.

“Okay…,” Ahsoka mutters, following Rex. “Just please don’t do that again. You’re a great guy and a great Force user so I don’t want to see your bottled up emotions get the best of you, understood?”

“Understood,” Rex answers, throwing his arm over Ahsoka’s shoulders as they step into the gunship.

Echo comes over to the two after the turbulent liftoff, holding a shiny cylinder. “How cute,” he deadpans upon seeing his ori’vod’s public display of affection. “Just because you can’t get in trouble legally doesn’t mean we won’t give you osik as soon as we land, sirs,” he smirks.

“Me copaani,” Rex growls.

“Easy there, Rex, I just wanted to give you this,” he holds out Rex’s lightsaber, adding, “you dropped it when that octupara launched you into space.”

“Vor’e,” Rex nods, returning Echo’s smile.

“This weapon is-”

“My life, I know cyare. I already have a headache and now you two start harassing me.”

“That’s just how things go, sir,” Echo quips. “Just be glad Fives and Laan’i are with Mecha Squad.”

A small smile spreads across Rex’s face. “Good thing they pranked me, then,” he laughs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so I didn't want Rex to be seriously injured or anything like I originally thought, so I ended up making this a kind of rising action chapter. I want him to struggle with the emotional part of the Force a little bit, so I tried to show that here. I read an excerpt from one of the clone wars books that basically said Rex had a meltdown and bottled up his anger after losing troopers then used it as fuel in battles. I tried to reference that so tell me what you think. Also, yes, Mecha Squad is what I'm calling the squad of shinies I introduced in The Steal. That's all for now~


	10. The Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a fun one for y'all. I love imagining the shenanagins that happen on hyperspace trips. You'll see what I mean when you read it, so have fun~

Despite the chaos of the last mission, there were no casualties and only a few troopers are still recovering from minor injuries. In preparation for the joint relief mission with the 104th, General Koon and a few Wolfpack members arrived on the Resolute to work out logistics and work on briefings. Seeing as the hyperspace trip is going to take a while, some troopers start one of their infamous games of tag.

“You’re it!”

“ _ Haar’chak _ , Fives,” Jesse shouts as everyone clears the hall. Well, almost everyone. Jesse spots Clutch trying to hide in a doorway, tags him, and high-tails it out of there.

Clutch sighs and runs the opposite way Jesse went, hoping he might find someone else to tag. After running through the durasteel halls for a few minutes, Clutch finally catches a glimpse of 501st blue dart across an intersection. This is his only chance so far, so he sprints after the vod, reaches out once he’s close enough, and misses. How could he miss? He looks up and sees why. He was trying to tag Captain Rex. Of all the clones on this venator, it had to be the _only_ Force-sensitive one. Clutch, seeing as no one else is around, desperately tries to tag Rex, ducking and weaving around him but Rex dodges every attempt with ease. He seems to be enjoying himself, standing casually in the open, stepping aside only when Clutch lunges for him. Finally Rex’s confidence gets the best of him, as he waits too long to dodge, and Clutch tags him. .

Rex bolts almost silently- thanks to the Force- into the mess hall and runs straight for the nearest person. He jumps unnaturally high across the nearest table and smacks someone’s armored shoulder and runs off. He hears a distant, betrayed “Laan’i!” from Fives

All occupants of the mess hall disperse in a storm of scuffling boots, leaving Fives and Wolffe behind. The Commander in grey takes a travel cup of caf, turns to leave, and nearly bumps into Fives who has made his way over from his table. Fives knows this is a bad idea, but if he dies, he goes down as a war hero and most importantly, the only person to ever tag Commander Wolffe.

Fives clears his throat, straightens up and says, “Commander Waffle, sir, you’re it!”

“What did you just call me?” Wolffe snarls. 

“Commander Waffle, sir,” Fives inches around towards Wolffe’s side as noticeably as he can.

“He didn’t,” Wolffe growls.

“He did.”

“Why, the little shi-”

Fives taps Wolffe on the shoulder and bolts into the nearest hallway.

He can hear plastoid boots coming after him, but he makes a few twists and turns and stops hearing them. He keeps at a jog, heading in the direction of the barracks when he bumps into someone. He screams, they scream, and he scrambles to get off the floor and run away.

“Hey, hey! I’m not that scary am I,” a feminine voice says, yanking Fives up by the backplate. 

“Good, it’s just you,” he sighs. 

“Great job, Sherlock.” 

Thump, thump, thump… 

“I tagged Wolffe,” Fives blurts out.

“So?”

“I also called him Waffle.” Laan’i bursts out laughing.

“I can’t wait to see that tooka-fight. Cap’s gonna be-”

“I know, just run,” Fives interrupts, pulling Laan’i into a run by her black and white vambrace. She slams her helmet on and runs with Fives away from the increasingly louder footsteps.

Some troopers conversing in the halls do a double take at the sight before them; a Mandalorian and ARC Trooper running frantically throughout the ship full speed, with the legendary Commander Wolffe hot on their heels. Wolfe tackles Fives, Laan’i tackles Wolffe, and they’re all so caught up in fighting they don’t hear when another clone approaches.

“What’s all this about?” Rex barks, his only response being Wolffe and Fives each saying “he started it”. He attempts to pull the tree apart but nearly gets caught up in the ferocity himself. He has no other choice so he steps back and Force-pushes all three in separate directions.

“Enough! We’re about to deploy, so how ‘bout you don’t land yourselves in the medbay,” he scolds.

“Get your troopers in line, then,” Wolffe says, straightening up and crossing his arms. “Or maybe you could keep certain things to yourself.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Commander Waffle,” Wolffe prods. 

Rex sighs, turning his attention to Fives. “Don’t call him Waffle, that’s banter reserved for batchmates  _ only _ . One week ‘fresher duty.”

Wolffe sighs and shakes his head. “You crazy chakaar’ade,” he laughs, aiming a pointed glare at the ARC trooper and Mandalorian, who freeze when they see Anakin appear.

“What’s the issue, here?” he asks.

“Nothing, sir,” and “Tag, sir,” come from Fives and Laan’i respectively, Rex shakes his head in exasperation, and Wolffe frowns angrily.

Anakin’s demeanor relaxes and a smile tugs at his lips. “You got tagged, didn’t you?” he asks Wolffe. Fives and Laan’i try to creep away again, only to be dragged slowly and awkwardly back to the conversation by the Force.

“Rex don’t do that,” Anakin briefly reprimands.

“You used it to cut a pear,” Rex points out.

“I know.”

“You used it to get sand out of your robes.”

“Rex.”

“You used it to push me off the LAAT wing so you could win the floor is lava.” 

“Rex!”

“Sir.”

“That’s better. But you aren’t me so you can’t do that stuff. Anyway, I’m sorry you got tagged, Wolffe, normally this is just a 501st thing but _ someone _ got carried away. I’ll deal with these two. Rex, comm the others and tell them 104th troopers are off limits.”

“Yes, sir,” Rex replies, pushing a button on his helmet to switch to private comms.

“Fives, Laan’i, you’re both disqualified from tag. Oh, and have fun spending your new free time on ship duty,” Anakin adds, walking away with a smirk.”

Once he’s gone, Wolffe flicks two fingers towards the troublemakers in an  _ I’m watching you _ gesture as he walks the opposite way. 

“You really tagged him,” Rex asks, taking his helmet off. 

“Yep. Not to brag, but it only took eighty seconds and sixty of those were me talking.” 

“I’m impressed,” Rex compliments, holding his hand up when Fives opens his mouth again. “But not enough to get you off ship duty. Speaking of which, you’re still responsible for training Mecha Squad, so I’d get that cargo strapped down fast if I were you.”

The clone and Mandalorian exchange a glance and walk- very slowly- to the hangar. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think the next chapter will be a relief mission gone sideways, then a final chaotic mission for the 501st, then a visit to Mandalore. I've been doing lots of world building for Laan'i's clan, who don't live ~on~ Mandalore but they do live very close and will be seen in future chapters. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that I'll focus more on the clones' connection to Mandalorian culture over the next few chapters. As always, I hope y'all have a great day or night :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this! I really appreciate it and will try to update this in a timely manner. If I don't, no worries, I didn't abandon it. I have a busy work schedule and other hobbies I get wrapped up in but I'm very proud of this and want to finish it and make it good. Thanks again and get some sleep. Unless you are actually reading this in the daytime, then have a good day.


End file.
